the designer for washington's city -- he submitted the design for a palace. the americans were not having a palace. in 1821, european diplomats told the congress it was neither large nor awe-inspiring. if that were larger and more elegant, perhaps a president would be inclined to be its permanent resident. >> a photo credit has gathered a few of her favorite white house photos. watch sunday evening at 7:30 p.m. eastern on c-span3. >> my inspiration was the idea that the wanted to explain how it happened. we do know the story of the cold war. we have seen the archives that describe relationships between roosevelt, stalin, churchill, and then truman. what i wanted to show what did it feel like to be one of the people who were subjected to this system and how did people make choices in that system and how did they behave. one of the things that has happened since 1989 is the region that we used to call eastern europe has become very differentiated. these countries no longer have much in common with one another. >> more about life in soviet east germany from the